One Room Challenge: Week 2 (The Design Plan)

Thank you to Linda at Calling it Home for inviting me to take part in the One Room Challenge again, and thank you to my sponsors (whose products I’ve noted with asterisks) for making this all possible. I’m grateful for them, and for you, too! Thank you for following along.

Front Entry

This should be easy enough. I’ve already started, a lot of what’s already there is staying, and I’d say there’s only about three days of work left. I want the entry to make a good first impression when guests come over, but it also needs to function well for our family of five (and all of the coats, shoes, and backpacks that end up in the space everyday).

The little light over the door is getting replaced with a similar brass downrod with a simple globe, and the gaslight-style fixture (that I think is facing the wrong way) will be replaced with a modern lantern*. This peacock blue velvet chair would look amazing in the entry, referencing the color of our sofa in the other room and the geometric lines of the lantern, but it’s not available until December. Instead, our copper chair will be just fine — with the added bonus of improving with abuse from the kids.

The Back Entry

The reason I’m doing all of these spaces as my “one” room for the One Room Challenge, is that they’re all getting variations of the same design. Colors will carry through. Hardware and lighting, while not an exact match throughout, will all work together.

The same door hardware* as the front door — keyed alike so we can use one key for both. The windows at the top and bottom of the stairs will get the same pink roman shades* as the front entry. I’m leaning toward pink paint again, but I may switch to the same creamy white I’ll be using in the third floor — what do you think? The main thing I’m excited about in this space, is the antelope stair runner*. It’s going to look amazing! Although I have to say, the pleated pendant* (I’m getting my pleats!) and mirrored sconce* are not to be overlooked.

I would love to skim coat the walls (especially since we basically have a drop cloth down with the old carpeting there), but I’m not sure if it’s going to happen. Paint would do wonders, and while we are going to hire out the carpet installation, we will be ripping all of the old stuff out, repairing and replacing damaged treads beneath (it’s pretty obvious that there are some problems), and then sanding, priming, and painting the stairs. I don’t think we can devote enough time to do the walls in this space right now when there’s so much else going on.

We can’t do anything in the hall until the drywall is done, but after that, we can sand, prime, and paint the doors and trim, prime the walls and ceiling, paint the ceiling, hang wallpaper, and install new lighting. It’s not the worst list of work to be done, but it’s slow-going stuff that’s going to take time to execute. We are having all of the stairs in the house done with the same antelope carpet* except for the ones in front from the first to second floor. The hall will also have a couple of runner rugs, but I haven’t decided 100% on the pattern/color yet. Maybe this one*? A solid color could be nice too.

The vintage armoire we’ve been using in the hall for storage is not holding up so well, so it’s being replaced with a new dresser*. On top will be the teeniest little brass lamp* and maybe another faux shagreen tray*. I need art above the dresser, and possibly throughout the hall, but I haven’t made any decisions there yet. I feel like there’s always room for vintage portraits* somewhere, and a vase* of fresh flowers, too. There is a window at the end of the hall (which used to be blocked off before we remodeled the second floor) that’s going to get another roman shade*, but in white. With polka dots. CUTE.

Third Floor Hallway

No problem, compared the other hall! The first two floors have similar proportions with the same 10″ tall molding, original Victorian hardware and details, and high ceilings. The third floor isn’t as grand. The trim is half as big, with little detail. None of the hardware matches each other, let alone the rest of the house, and the ceilings are a standard 8′ high.

The walls are textured again, but skim coating up there is not a priority. I’m also leaving the wall-to-wall carpet that’s in the hall and two rooms (meh). Still, paint is going to work wonders. I’ll be using a creamy white paint — I’ll share the exact shade once I’m sure. The doors will be black and the trim white, for continuity with the second floor. Something I’m pretty excited about is the new hardware* that’s going on those doors! Brass, to match the originals throughout the rest of the house, with period-appropriate details, but modernized a bit with rope rosettes instead of long, skinny Victorian back plates.

I’ve already chiseled out space for the new, larger mortise locks to fit and repaired the doors with wood putty as needed. All six doors up there are in progress, then it’s time to paint everything and change a couple more lights. The ceiling fixture will match the brass mounts with globes* on the second floor, and I bought more classic sconces and black shades for the whole top floor (three of them in all).

There’s only about 3-1/2 weeks left to do everything, because I need at least a couple of days to take and edit photos at the end. Um, not that I’m stressing about it or anything. (Yikes!)

39 Comments

this is ambitious, but pretty damned fabulous… loving the antelope carpet & you’ve used my most favourite hallway reference image ever (black doors, massive base of lilacs)… just wondering, what is the thinking behind the change of colours on the top floor? i always love to know people’s thought processes when pulling a scheme together!

The lack of light in the hallway on the third floor, the lower ceilings, the textured walls, skimpy moldings, and the funny angles at one end were all factors in choosing a different color. The white trim and black doors with brass hardware will link the space to the rest of the house, but a creamy white color on the walls and ceiling will keep it from being overwhelming with a lot of color!

Pia

AzureSong

October 17, 2016 at 7:01 pm

It’s not actually made of antelope! Are you really saying that we can’t copy patterns we see in nature? No antelopes because it reminds us of dead antelopes? No faux leather because it reminds us of real leather? Come on, this is craziness. There’s nothing wrong with animal prints.

Dee

Celeste

October 12, 2016 at 1:05 pm

This is going to be stunning! The continuity makes me sooo happy and I love seeing all the choices you’ve made side-by-side. Lots of work but man, you’re going to love walking through your house instead of slightly closing your eyes before landing in finished rooms. ha!

lauralou

Regarding painting: my first instinct is to say do everything that gentle, creamy white and then bring in additional pink accents (shades, flowers, accessories). That would be safer/more neutral and is probably what I would personally choose. But, since you love pink so much, go for it! Both could look great, just a different feel with the white vs. the pink.

Karen Simon Peterson

Sherry

October 13, 2016 at 4:21 am

Exciting choices!! Love, love the front hall lantern, the antelope stair runner, and the sweet hall dresser. I think, with the high ceilings you can pull off the pink. Look forward to seeing the results!

Boy…big job but you are right to get it all done at the same time…plus the deadline is a good way to push you forward:) I almost used that same Karastan rug but changed my mind at the last minute….now rethinking my decision cause I really love it!….!

[…] Blech. Don’t judge that back stairway too harshly — it’s what we inherited when we bought the house. So glad to finally be giving it some attention! Picture the walls all smoothed out and painted a creamy white, black stairs with white risers, white trim, and that antelope print runner. […]

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[…] I paired them up together with the Simply Yours Tool one last time. I referenced it while creating design boards and choosing fabrics, furnishings, and accessories. The brown (Olde Metal, 414-7DB) is there to […]